Trump Takes Aim at Michelle Obama's Healthy Lunch & Girls Education Programs

We can’t have any nice things.

On a day which feels particularly cruel, news-wise, our new administration has taken aim at the former first lady’s signature pro-children programs, “Let Girls Learn” and her healthy lunch standards for American schools.

CNN reports on the new administration’s end to the “Let Girls Learn” program, which was aimed at teen girls in other countries where education isn’t necessarily valued as much for women. Based on the details, it seems to be a move that’s less substantive and more of an “eff you” to former FLOTUS’s legacy.

“The Trump administration is discontinuing a signature girls education initiative championed by former first lady Michelle Obama, according to officials.

The “Let Girls Learn” program, which she and President Barack Obama started in 2015 to facilitate educational opportunities for adolescent girls in developing countries, will cease operation immediately, according to an internal document obtained by CNN.

While aspects of the initiative’s programming will continue, employees have been told to stop using the “Let Girls Learn” name and were told that, as a program unto itself, “Let Girls Learn” was ending.”

Obama’s healthy lunch initiative is on the way out, too. As The Hill reports:

“Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue took steps Monday to roll back healthy school lunch standards promoted by former first lady Michelle Obama in one of his first regulatory acts.

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In an interim final rule, aimed at giving schools more flexibility, Perdue and his department are postponing further sodium reductions for at least three years and allowing schools to serve non-whole grain rich products occasionally as well as 1 percent flavored milk.”

None of this is as bad as say, trying to eliminate mandatory coverage of maternal health care or going to the brink of war with North Korea, but the optics of it—screwing over kids just to make a point—are rough, and sad.

Sarah M. Seltzer

Sarah Seltzer, former editor for Kveller, is a writer and editor in New York City. She is a journalist covering culture, activism and gender, most recently as Deputy Editor at culture website Flavorwire.com. Her print and online work has appeared in publications including Poets & Writers, The Forward, Lilith, The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, The New York Times, Salon, The Nation, The Wall Street Journal, Jezebel, The Hairpin, Refinery29, The Toast, Rolling Stone, and many more. She is a graduate of Harvard University, where she edited The Crimson’s weekend magazine, as well as the MFA in writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her first baby, Mikey, is growing up way too fast and she can objectively report that he is very cute. You can follow her at @sarahmseltzer and reach her at sarah@kveller.com.